Growth Business: How can I reduce my company tax bill?

Amazon has cut its company tax bill in the UK this year, instigating anger amongst business owners.

The retail and cloud computing giant’s UK arm, Amazon UK Services, paid only £1.7 million in tax this year, less than the £7.4 million from last year.

It was able to defer tax payments by paying staff in share-based payments – worth an average of £1,000 each per year.

This is despite a pre-tax profits jump of £72.3 million from £24.3 million.

‘Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment,’ an Amazon spokesperson told The Guardian.